Thinking About Hiding Cameras in Your Home? Read This First!

You love your family. And you want to keep them safe, no matter what life throws your way, but you know you can’t always be there.

A security system can help restore your peace of mind. But hiding cameras can also get you into trouble if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Here’s what you need to know before you install a hidden security system.

Know What’s Legal and What’s Not

First, you should be crystal clear on what’s legal and what’s not.

Unfortunately, this is a bit of a gray area, especially because each state has its own regulations around home security systems.

As a rule, you’ll have the most legal leg room when installing a security system in the confines of your own home. Nanny cames and surveillance systems for your own property are legal so long as guests in your home have a reasonable expectation of privacy which you abide.

So while it’s fine to put a baby monitor camera in the baby’s room, it’s not okay to put a camera in the bathroom. If it seems like a shady idea, that’s because it probably is.

Now, let’s say you open up your home to Airbnb guests or guests through a similar service. You are NOT legally allowed to spy on them under the reasonable expectation of privacy clause, which means no cameras in the bedrooms or bathrooms.

If you do place cameras in these areas, you have to alert guests and Airbnb of their presence, but you may still be asked to remove them.

Public Places and Your Neighbors

That’s all within the confines of your home. Surveillance in public places is another matter.

In general, you can place cameras in public places (within reason). The reasonable expectation of privacy clause still applies, which means no restrooms and no cameras in creepy places (basically, if it seems like something a stalker would do, you can probably get in legal trouble for it).

The same thing goes for the workplace. As an employer (NOT as an employee) you have the right to monitor your office within reason. A camera covering the whole office is one thing, but a camera trained on one individual employee or a camera placed in a restroom is different.

There’s also the matter of your neighbors.

You have the legal right to install outdoor cameras to do surveillance on your own property. You do not have the legal right to spy on your neighbors. A camera staring into your backyard is fine, but not a camera staring into the neighbor’s property.

You also can’t send a camera with your child to spy on them at a friend’s house. It’s not legal and frankly, it’s creepy.

Audio Recording

We’ve only talked about visual recording thus far. But since some cameras offer audio recording, it’s also important to know the laws around audio recording.

Fortunately, these laws are more defined.

In most states, if you plan on recording a conversation, you are legally obligated to notify others that they are being recorded. If they don’t consent to be recorded, you can’t record them. It’s like when you call a helpline and they inform you that the call is being recorded for training purposes.

Know What Features and Options You Want

Once you’re clear on the legal ramifications of where you can and cannot place a security camera, you need to think about what features you want from a security system.

Live Feed

These systems usually upload a feed to an app which you can check from your phone, no matter how far away you are.

The trick is to figure out whether a camera offers a live feed alone or whether it also allows you to view older recordings.

Most systems won’t let you view your whole camera history for storage reasons, but some will let you review the feed from the past 24 hours. This is handy if you’re worried about break-ins – without access to old recordings, you can’t catch the burglar on tape.

Night Vision

You also need to consider where you’re placing a camera. If you place it in a dark area, or if you want to get surveillance footage from the night, it’s a good idea to look into cameras with night vision features.

This will allow a camera to catch footage even if it’s completely dark – a definite benefit if you’re worried about burglars.

Remember, burglars are attracted to easy targets. If your home is dark, it’s easier for a burglar to slip in and out unnoticed.

Sound

If you’re thinking of getting a camera with audio capabilities, you need to think about where to place the camera for optimal sound quality.

Ideally, the camera should be as close as possible to where the speaker will be. Of course, it should also be unobtrusive – otherwise, no one will willingly stand next to it.

The camera should also be far away from anything noisy, like a TV or radio, as these things will make it difficult to pick up on a person’s voice.

For example, if you place a camera in your living room, it should be on the opposite side of the room from the TV and should be near a couch or chair, where someone is likely to sit.

Thinking of Hiding Cameras?

Hiding cameras isn’t as simple as placing a camera and pulling the curtains. You need to be strategic about how you put your security system together in order to get the best protection possible.